Gordon Henderson attacked after calling for Muslims to report extremists

Conservative election candidate Gordon Henderson insists Muslims are duty bound to report extremists in their midst - but he stopped short of calling for internment camps for suspects.

The 69-year-old, who was the MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey until the general election, spelled out his thoughts in a provocative Facebook post after three terrorists killed seven and injured 48 on London's South Bank on Saturday night.

He said: "I am sure that the vast majority of Muslims in our area are as sickened as I am by these indescribable acts of evil.

MP Gordon Henderson

"The only people who can defeat the Islamic terrorists are the British Muslims in whose midst they find sanctuary.

"It is time for peace-loving Muslims to start providing information to the police about those within their community that they suspect of plotting attacks.

"The only other option is to put all suspected terrorists in internment camps, and that is not a route I would like to go down.

"We tried it with the IRA and all it did was make the prisoners into martyrs."

Police shot dead three men after they drove into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed people in Borough Market.

Homes in east London were raided on Sunday and 12 people arrested as police work to establish whether the killers were part of a wider terror network.

Mr Henderson went on: "As the Prime Minister said today: enough is enough.

"The most important thing is that everybody in Britain, whatever their nationality, politics or religion, must come together to fight, and destroy, those among us who hate our liberal way of life.

London Bridge tonight Picture @panosstamou

"My thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost their lives and those they left behind."

But commenting on Mr Henderson's post, Jon Goodhew said that people from within Manchester's Muslim community had reported suicide bomber Salman Abedi to the authorities - only for him to be free to kill.

"It's extremely clear to everyone that the Muslim communities did everything they should have done with regards to Abedi."

"That information was ignored. Also given that you are addressing a constituency with an extremely low Muslim population are you talking to them or about them? This is irresponsible and inflammatory."

"The only people who can defeat the Islamic terrorists are the British Muslims in whose midst they find sanctuary" - Gordon Henderson

"True British Muslims are just as shocked and disgusted by what happened as the rest of the country. These fanatics dislike British Muslims as much as they hate the rest of the westerners, because they do not believe in their twisted version of Islam."

Mr Henderson was Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP since from 2010 and won the 2015 election with a majority of more than 12,000. He faces six other candidates in Thursday's election.